Tuesday, 2 June 2015

The Jayat family at church (they showed up in white shirts
and ties to sing today)

And our mission president, President Mullen

This week was so sad... I can tell you more soon. Last night
we said goodbyes after the baptism. It was awesome. Brayan bought me a soccer
ball. It was so nice. I went to the Jayat's to say goodbye and they gave me two
ties and letters. Ahhh. It was so hard but then I saw Juan, the Dad, start to
cry after I hugged him goodbye. That almost killed me. Later we saw my recent
convert, Diego and his family. They bought me all this Mexican food. Ah. It was
so awesome but so sad. It's hard leaving family behind. I'm so glad I came
here, there's no other place I would've rather come.

Sorry I didn't write
yesterday. It was a holiday so everything was closed.

Dad! Yeah the car accident was
pretty funny. And stupid haha. We had to take the car in yesterday to switch it
out. That's awesome. I just finished DyC in spanish about a month ago. But
yeah. They challenged us to read the BOM and highlight certain things about
Christ. I'm reading it in Spanish. I love that book. Sounds like Jojo is doing
awesome. I'm so glad he's with his family. I can't wait till they get sealed
either. Man that'll be such a cool day. Hey Love you Dad! Hope all goes well
and see you soon haha.

Mum! Yes. to answer your
question haha. If there was any way to get on to that encampment I would be so
down to go. Tell charly grad is overrated and she shouldn't go. Sounds like
everything has been so busy! That's awesome though that you've been sharing and
doing missionary work. What does she think about the church? Thanks for being
an awesome Mum and always supporting dad. You're the best love ya!

Pete! When are you getting
your Green card dude? It's a weird feeling being on my last week. I'll be honest
it doesn't feel at all like it is. I feel like it's just the end of another
transfer. How's Courtney? How's being married? Am I an uncle yet? If so please
name him Michael. after me. But honestly being on the mission is the best thing
I've ever done. I'm so glad I chose to do it. Anyways. Love you. Keep being the
big man and going to Boston. Love ya!

Charly. I heard you're going
to grad. If you ask me it's a waste of time and overrated.... so don't go. Love
you!

Jake! You're a punk. How's
your lady friend doing? Also do you meet any lady's at the dance? And it's the
Guert's last week? Where are they going? Good job in the choir thing. Did you
do a solo?

Love you Dude. See you!

Kenna! you gotta let me know
how the dance goes! You should probably get an outfit. Just saying. I'll be
talking to the Primary kids? Haha what about? Love you Kenna!

SO! This week has been weird,
hard, but awesome too. So Diego got confirmed yesterday. It was cool because he
asked me to do it. That was super awesome. He came and sat next to me in
sacrament and we played X's and O's. I won so that was fun.

Also oh man. We had a multi
zone this week in Moreno Valley. At the end of the multi-zone they asked all
the outgoing missionaries to give their testimonies. And that was going really
well until I saw one of my recent converts walk in. Gosh. I manage to keep it
together though. But Brayan - the 10 year old I got to baptize a year ago -
came in with his mum who just got married and is getting baptized next week. It
was awesome to see him again. It was cool because when I left the first time he
was really sad, so I kind of promised him I'd come back to see him before I
left. But I couldn't because I never served there again... so it was awesome to
see him there. He's a stud.

We had a bomb time with the
Jayat family this week as well. They invited us over for dinner this week and
gave us some super fancy food. Then we had a family home evening. I taught them
don't eat Pete. It was super fun. I'm so confused with that family! They're
doing everything. Reading, Praying, praying as a family, going to church, doing
FHE. AH. I don't know what else to do. We texted them to follow up on there
praying... Juan (the Dad) told us he got an answer that the book of mormon
wasn't true. It was so sad. He said he's not going to tell his family because
he wants them to get there own answers... but he feels it's not true (we think
he's been looking at anti). But I'm so confused because that day he texted us
was Sunday and he still came to church with his whole family. They paid tithing
again. And in Priesthood we were talking about the Book of Mormon and how we
need to read it every day. At the end he put up his hand and said basically
"for those who can't read or who don't have time or are too lazy to read,
the church has an application where you can listen to the scriptures. I listed
to it all the time and have advanced a lot in the Book of Mormon".... I'm
so confused. They went to a members house for FHE yesterday. There might be
another thing too... there was an anti mormon guy in church a couple weeks ago
who is a member but kind of apostate and was saying some apostate things about
the BOM. So that might be some influence. Anyways. I love that family to death.
We are just praying for a miracle. I really hope they get baptized! They are so
elect. Also they got to mutual wednesdays and haven't missed a Sunday since
they started coming which was super difficult because they had to change their
work schedule and stop going to their other church. So yeah. We're
confused.

Anyways. We picked up a lot of
new investigators last week as well and put them on date. Unfortunately things
happened and they didn't come to church. But we're excited to work with them
this week. Things are going good in the area. I have a rocking companion to
keep things up here which is great.

Anyways. It's been awesome to
have some awesome experiences. One of my recent converts called me this week to
let me know that she will be going to the temple soon. I'm so happy. I know
this church is true. I know it. I know Jesus Christ lives and I love being
apart of His gospel. It's blessed me so much. It's been the best experience
ever.

Hey family. So this week was great! We saw a lot of
miracles, and had a lot of awesome experiences. Super TIGHT.

Anyways. Before all that. Sounds like you guys had a good
week down in Idaho. Without Charly and Jake. Dad. We're doing what we can with
the Jayat family. Such an awesome family! I'm so stoked for them there
progressing a ton! Sounds like you guys had a blast this last weekend. Haha and
I think I read those books a long time ago.... maybe. I can't remember. At
least something like that. Hope things are well, love ya dad!

Mum! that's awesome you get to go on the Joseph Smith
Encampment! I'm super jealous. Do you know who's in your group at all? What do
you get to do on the camp, I don't think I ever went to one of those. I just
did the trek. That's awesome you got the tv down there too. Sounds like
everything's going super well! Also that's nuts the Ross got married. And ya
Marissa's owning it out there - I can't believe she's halfway... weird.
Anyways. Love you mum!

Pete! Dude. Have fun in Boston. Big deal.

Charly. No boys.

Jake. dude. Hope everything's cool.

Kenna and Izaac. I hope you liked the cabin!!

Anyways. This week was pretty cool like I said. Diego got
baptized, first of all. It was a super great experience. Pretty cool. There
were tons of people there (including the Jayat family). I don't think I'll ever
get tired of baptisms. They're so amazing. It's such a spiritual experience.
One of the missionaries that came back to see the baptism came from my old area
in Moval. And came with my recent convert, Johnny. It was so good to see him.
Man. He's so awesome. He's working on his papers right now, apparently, and
said he should be good to go in the beginning of fall or end of summer. I'm so
happy for him. He's one of my pride and joys the my mission. I love him so
much. He's changed so much too. When I first met him he had super long hair,
earrings and everything. Not that that's a bad thing or anything. But little by
little he's cut his hair, taken out his earrings, etc. Obviously not anything
bad before, but he's shown how he's changed over time. It's been awesome.

Other cool things.... we got in a car accident again.
Basically after a district meeting we were backed up and about to leave but one
of the other elder's was blocking the way with his car. Another elder got in
his car to back out, and while he did another elder ran in and threw water of him.
SO the missionary driving jumped, accidentally leaving the car in reverse. We
had no space to move and were hit twice by the empty car. Man. Missionaries are
so dumb. We all went to cheesecake factory afterwards and bought cheesecake.

I've grown to have a deeper love for the bible this week. I
started reading the old testament in Spanish. It's super good. I really love
the scriptures. They're so cool!

Also we have been working super hard with the Jayat family.
They came to church again. we went over with the Bishop the other day. Also
they are taking us out to eat this week. They're so so so close. Ahh. It's so
frustrating. I just want them all to get baptized. It's such an awesome family.
They were going to go to the young men's camp this week, but it was cancelled
due to rain. (that never happens down here). So yeah. Pray for them. We had a
bomb lesson on the Atonement and Sacrament on Sunday. I really hope they get
baptized. They're so close!

Also we had a funny experience. Two. At the beginning of my
mission I baptized a lady in this area. She never got confirmed. She wouldn't
answer us or anything and always avoided us and yeah. Well she moved and so I
thought I wouldn't see her again. But I saw her the other day. I called out to
her and she ran off. But I felt bad because I couldn't tell God I did
everything with her until I had a talk with her about why she stopped coming.
So we used our creeping skills which we have developed over the mission and
found out where she lived. Last night we went over... she was
"asleep" so we taught her son instead and picked him up as a new
investigator. It's great.

Also we were on exchanges, and I was out of my area. And we
were at the church teaching a lesson, and some dude comes by and asks for a
triple. He's like kind of old. Anyways. We became best friends. But he has some
weird views. And wouldn't shut up. For about an hour. And we tried to get him
to go - even by telling him we were in the middle of an appointment. But he
kept going on about everything. He's not a member. And he kind of bashed a
little or told us he doesn't think we are right. (he just wanted a Pearl of
Great Price because he's writing a book from Cain's perspective of things). But
he couldn't give us a straight answer. It was so weird.

But yeah. That was my week. We had a lot of other things. A
girl we're teaching named Victoria came to church too.... hopefully she'll get
baptized before I go. She's really awesome.

Also I saw my boy (Elder Gibson) today. We had a mission
crossfit. It was cool to see him. We went out to lunch after. He's
awesome.

So that was my week. I love being a missionary and I love
the gospel. I know it's true and I'm so happy to be apart of it!!

Hey family. It was weird to see you on skype yesterday! I'm
not gonna lie. It was really good to see you, but kind of weird! Everyone looks
so different. Also Dad that was a pretty awesome beard. I'm sorry you had to
shave it. I saw someone driving with duck flags on their car and was mad at
them but didn't realize until just now that the flames lost... ah man. Always
next year though.

But yeah that beard was pretty cool.

I don't really know what to say, seeing as we talked about
my week yesterday pretty much. But just keep in your prayers the Jayat family.
They're doing so awesome. I really hope and pray they get baptized soon. It was
be a super awesome extra present if they got baptized before I went back. Also
Diego is getting baptized this week. We went over the other day to teach him,
and all his friends were playing outside. They asked us to play for a bit. They
all love us now and always come sit in on the lessons. They all want to get
baptized now too haha. It's really funny.

Anyways. Thanks for being the best family in the world. I
hope you guys are all doing good back home and things aren't too nuts. Love you
guys a lot. I know I was probably weird on skype. I'll just accept it. Hahah
and I'm sorry but it's just weird to think about it all. But that doesn't
change the fact that I still love you all to death and that I have the best
family ever. Happy Mother's Day again, mum. I hope it went well!

Anyways. I didn't really get the chance to bear you all my
testimony, which kind of bugged me. But it was kind of a crazy house last night
and everything was dying or not working. But really I just hope you guys know
that I know this is all true. Especially That Jesus Christ is real and this is
His Gospel. I love how powerful the love of Christ is, and that no matter who
we are or what point we're at He accepts us and changes us. I know that Joseph
Smith was a prophet too, and this church is the church of Christ.

Anyways. Thanks again for being a great family!

ALSO. Before I forget. I had another question. Like I said
yesterday, my account was lost. So I was wondering if I could use the credit
card and pay you back later? I haven't really bought much out here and I wanted
to by a couple of things before I left. I hope that's okay.

Hey family. This week was so awesome. I hope you guys had an
awesome week. It sounds like it.

Hey So I'll probably be skyping around 5 or 5:30 this time
which I think is like 6 or 6:30 where you're at. Hopefully that's an okay time,
if not I'll just skype Peter. Hahaha.

Hey Dad! I totally get you! Sometimes in the mission
conferences we get, people just love to hear themselves yap. It's super
interesting to watch them though haha. So with the helping hands stuff we
basically cleaned up an old park. Which involved destroying buildings. It was
fun. I heard the flames got whipped. Many people like to rub it in down here
hahaha. But yeah I don't really hear anything of what's going on. That's good
to know. We're pretty disconnected here. I hope everything's okay, but it's
super interesting to see how close we are to the end. I really think it's
coming soon. Anyways. I'm sorry you got cheated from your weekend. At least HP
went well! Love ya dad!

Mum! Don't rub it in about the
journal! Ahhh. I've tried, but there's so much to do that I really struggle to
get around to it. That sounds like everyone had a good weekend though. Everyone
is getting married. It's so weird. All my mission friends went home and got
engaged. Like what. Haha it's pretty weird. And thank you for sending the
package. That means a lot haha. But yeah I have heard those speakers before.
They're really great, especially for youth. I love those kind of talks haha.
And all the plans you made sound great. Hopefully Pete can come! I did hear
from Ethan! He told me he probably can't sign up because it's too far away from
his job. He got a job on the other side of campus and doesn't have a car. But
ni modo! I can't room with random people too! That's fine with me. Love you
mum, thanks for all you do!

Charly! I didn't hear from you.
Jerk! Nahh I'm kidding. Hey! how was youth conference? How's your boy Reed?
Also you never told me what happened with Mitchell. Poor guy. Ojala que te
hayas portado bien. Anyways. I love you! Hope all is well and do well in
school. Love you. Also how's seminary? I hope you're doing okay. Keep up your
daily scripture study. It's the most important thing you can do. Love you!

Jake! Hey dude. Stop counting!! Punk. That's tight you had a
good time at the youth conference! Meet any cute girls? Anyways. You can
definitely keep weeks like that going. You just have to put effort into keeping
that Spirit with you. It's the best feeling ever. Thanks Jakey. Love you man!
How's school/seminary/sports doing? How are the missionaries? You can still go
out with them by the way, like if you went with Dad or you got dropped off at a
lesson... Anyways. Love you man! Keep being awesome!

Kenna. Thanks for writing to you. I too will try to write
you every week! How much hair did you cut off? Are you bald? Yes. I do remember
Saturplay. That was so much fun! Is school almost out for you? What's your
favourite part of school? and yeah, I have a few friends that are sad. I will
definitely come back to visit one day. Maybe we could do a road trip and you
can come with me! Hahah. Love you Kenna!

Izaac! Dude. I hope you had fun
at Saturplay. Kenna said it was a blast. How are you doing dude? Are you still
chubby? Hope you're doing great. Love you dude. Thanks for being my brother!!
Can't wait to talk to you on skype!

So this week was great. So today was kind of lame. That was
really the only lame part. We were playing basketball for P-day activity. And I
landed wrong, and heard and felt this crunch in my ankle as I folded. So my
ankle is sprained again. Hahaha same ankle as last time, I think it was just
weak. Oh well. I guess God is telling me to take it easy. That was the only
lame part! So that's really good.

We are still working with the Jayat family. Which is
awesome. They are so elect. Juan (the dad) calls ahead to time to tell Lorena
(the mum) to clean up for the muchachos so we can be in a clean house. Also it
was funny. They went to Stake Conference and loved it. My mission President
talked about Alma 32 which was the chapter we assigned them. After church we
were working in there apartment complex and saw them outside. They we're
getting on us. They though we set it up because they read the same chapter. It
was hilarious. They're progressing really well. Just pray for them. Our goal is
to baptize them May 31st. That would be so cool. I love that family a
lot.

We also picked up this new girl named Victoria who lives in
our apartment complex. Elder Wilkes found her while we were on splits, and she
was crying because her car was broken down. The hermano went out the next day
and towed her car back for free (he's a tower). She was super happy. Anyways.
We started teaching her and she came to church. She's 18 and only speaks
spanish from El Salvador. She's only been here for a little bit and is super
lost. At church everyone came up and introduced themselves and gave her hugs
and what not. It was pretty cool. She really liked it.

Also Diego looks good for this month. We went over and had a
heart to heart while Diego wasn't there.... we got her to sign the baptismal
white. And everything looks good and ready to go. Just pray that no more
problems come up!

I've had a lot of cool little
experiences this week that just remind me God is looking out for me. It's super
awesome and I love it. I love being a missionary. It's the best thing I've ever
done. I know this church is true. We were invited to a stake conference
leadership session. It was so spiritual. Granted, all they talked about was
marriage, but it was really awesome!

Also this week I had some funny experiences. One was that we
saw these two guys in a super ghetto street fight. We ran up to go break it up
pretty much. And one guy got in his car and drove off and the other was all
drugged out and bleeding and what not. He was being held back by his brother
and started yelling at us, asking us who we were and telling us to leave (while
cussing up a storm) then he looked super confused. Looked at us and told us he
loved Jesus in a very calm voice and that he loved us, and then proceeded to
cuss us out. (and for mum, don't worry because the people that run that street
have our back). So yeah. It was pretty weird. I got his blood on my face though
which was gross.

Also one of the hermanos from the ward gave me a super huge
russian fur coat because I'm from Canada. And he's never going to wear it. So I
have a super huge russian fur coat. Also we did service for the Navarrete's in
our ward (a super cool family) and they let me use they machette to cut down a
tree.

Anyways. I love this work! I know the gospel's true. I
really do. And it's been the biggest blessing to me in my life. I'm so glad I
have it, and that I can share it with others!